Marah Roesli

Marah Roesli was born in Padang, West Sumatra on August 7, 1889, and died in Bandung, West Java on January 17, 1968. He was one of the most wellknown Indonesian authors from the Balai Pustaka period. He is famous for his novel Sitti Nurbaya, which tells the story of a teenage girl who was forced to marry a man much older than herself to recompense his fathers debt. Like other Minangkabau authors, such as Hamka, Ali Akbar Navis, and Abdul Muis, his novels centre on the theme of the increasingly bankrupt Minangkabau culture.

Marah Roeslis father, Sultan Abu Bakar, was a nobleman with the rank Sultan Pangeran. Against his familys wishes, Marah Roesli married a Sundanese woman born in Bogor in 1911, and they had three children, two boys and one girl. Although this marriage was strongly abhorred by his parents, he did not give it up.

Source: Wikipedia